1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of cryptographic systems.
2. Background Art
A cryptographic system is a system for sending a message from a sender to a receiver over a medium so that the message is "secure", that is, so that only the intended receiver can recover the message. A cryptographic system converts a message, referred to as "plaintext" into an encrypted format, known as "ciphertext." The encryption is accomplished by manipulating or transforming the message using a "cipher key" or keys. The receiver "decrypts" the message, that is, converts it from ciphertext to plaintext, by reversing the manipulation or transformation process using the cipher key or keys. So long as only the sender and receiver have knowledge of the cipher key, such an encrypted transmission is secure.
A "classical" cryptosystem is a cryptosystem in which the enciphering information can be used to determine the deciphering information. To provide security, a classical cryptosystem requires that the enciphering key be kept secret and provided to users of the system over secure channels. Secure channels, such as secret couriers, secure telephone transmission lines, or the like, are often impractical and expensive.
A system that eliminates the difficulties of exchanging a secure enciphering key is known as "public key encryption." By definition, a public key cryptosystem has the property that someone who knows only how to encipher a message cannot use the enciphering key to find the deciphering key without a prohibitively lengthy computation. An enciphering function is chosen so that once an enciphering key is known, the enciphering function is relatively easy to compute. However, the inverse of the encrypting transformation function is difficult, or computationally infeasible, to compute. Such a function is referred to as a "one way function" or as a "trap door function." In a public key cryptosystem, certain information relating to the keys is public. This information can be, and often is, published or transmitted in a non-secure manner. Also, certain information relating to the keys is private. This information may be distributed over a secure channel to protect its privacy, (or may be created by a local user to ensure privacy).
A block diagram of a typical public key cryptographic system is illustrated in FIG. 1. A sender represented by the blocks within dashed line 100 sends a plaintext message P to a receiver, represented by the blocks within dashed line 115. The plaintext message is encrypted into a ciphertext message C, transmitted over some transmission medium and decoded by the receiver 115 to recreate the plaintext message P.
The sender 100 includes a cryptographic device 101, a secure key generator 102 and a key source 103. The key source 103 is connected to the secure key generator 102 through line 104. The secure key generator 102 is coupled to the cryptographic device 101 through line 105. The cryptographic device provides a ciphertext output C on line 106. The secure key generator 102 provides a key output on line 107. This output is provided, along with the ciphertext message 106, to transmitter receiver 109. The transmitter receiver 109 may be, for example, a computer transmitting device such as a modem or it may be a device for transmitting radio frequency transmission signals. The transmitter receiver 109 outputs the secure key and the ciphertext message on an insecure channel 110 to the receiver's transmitter receiver 111.
The receiver 115 also includes a cryptographic device 116, a secure key generator 117 and a key source 118. The key source 118 is coupled to the secure key generator 117 on line 119. The secure key generator 117 is coupled to the cryptographic device 116 on line 120. The cryptographic device 116 is coupled to the transmitter receiver 111 through line 121. The secure key generator 117 is coupled to the transmitter receiver 111 on lines 122 and 123.
In operation, the sender 100 has a plaintext message P to send to the receiver 115. Both the sender 100 and the receiver 115 have cryptographic devices 101 and 116, respectively, that use the same encryption scheme. There are a number of suitable cryptosystem that can be implemented in the cryptographic devices. For example, they may implemente the Data Encryption Standard (DES) or some other suitable encryption scheme.
Sender and receiver also have secure key generators 102 and 117, respectively. These secure key generators implement any one of several well known public key exchange schemes. These schemes, which will be described in detail below, include the Diffie-Hellman scheme, the RSA scheme, the Massey-Omura scheme, and the ElGamal scheme.
The sender 100 uses key source 103, which may be a random number generator, to generate a private key. The private key is provided to the secure key generator 102 and is used to generate an encryption key e.sub.K. The encryption key e.sub.K is transmitted on lines 105 to the cryptographic device and is used to encrypt the plaintext message P to generate a ciphertext message C provided on line 106 to the transmitter receiver 109. The secure key generator 102 also transmits the information used to convert to the secure key from key source 103 to the encryption key e.sub.K. This information can be transmitted over an insecure channel, because it is impractical to recreate the encryption key from this information without knowning the private key.
The receiver 115 uses key source 118 to generate a private and secure key 119. This private key 119 is used in the secure key generator 117 along with the key generating information provided by the sender 100 to generate a deciphering key D.sub.K. This deciphering key D.sub.K is provided on line 120 to the cryptographic device 116 where it is used to decrypt the ciphertext message and reproduce the original plaintext message.